Ending Extreme Poverty, A Road to Peace.
“Rare is the day when you can speak of poverty without shame. When I saw all those people coming together, when I sat down with people that I had never dared to approach, when I spoke up in front of everyone, it gave me a sense of courage, of strength. That day, I realized that all these people wanted us to count for something.”
October 17th is one of the key moments of the year when people can come together not only to express their commitment to eradicating poverty, but also their commitment to respecting human dignity. Particularly important is the opportunity it provides to those who experience poverty on a daily basis to have their voices heard. An understanding of their reality changes the perspective on both poverty as well as human rights.
October 17th is also an opportunity for people from all walks of life to come together as equals. It gives people that feel excluded a renewed trust in their own capacities as well as in the solidarity of others. It opens a road to peace.
This day enables new forms of dialogue to take place and an exchange of experience and ideas between people from very different sectors of society - including the very poor themselves - and thus contributes to the development of improved and innovative public policies and programs aimed at the eradication of extreme poverty.
These different key aspects of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty have been highlighted by the Montreal seminar’s participants. With them, we propose for everyone to sign the Call to Action, “Ending extreme poverty, a road to peace”. It would help make the spirit of October 17th better known. Signing the Call to Action will increase the commitment to working hand in hand with those living in extreme poverty to seek new ways of going toward a world without poverty.
Eugen Brand
Excerpt from the ATD Fourth World Movement General Delegate’s remarks
at the October 17th 2006 commemoration, United Nations, New York.
